After seeing what passes for strategy
in Pro Golf, Tom Browne needs to explain to the Finns
why they should not cancel their plane tickets for next year.

The lucky final foursome for the skins
game ... what's this? Two in a row for Yoshi? Could it be? Must
be the jacket. But Coussis really needs to cover up that shirt.

The Lottery Pick 4 ...

The Lucky 16th gets Coussis his Second ...

Pro Golf tends to show a remarkable stability in its
entrants, but the increase to 71 participants teeing off from
the Hopewell room this year was the greatest number of duffers-with-dice
since 2004. Once again, we were able to keep the Final Four Skins
game free of members of the BPA Board of Directors, though Bruce
Reiff had looked to be in before a double bogey on his final
hole of the 2002 version of the Augusta course. No doubt, Bruce
was at that moment hoping the rumors of a switch to the Pebble
Beach course next year were true.

The
event was preceded by the awarding of the champions plaque and
the initial BPA Pro Golf PBeM green jacket to the winner
of the 2012 email tournament, Mark Yoshikawa, by the first PBeM
champion, Lisa Gutermuth. While official records are unavailable,
it is believed that Mr.Yoshikawa held at least a tie for the
record for most years of Avaloncon/BPA membership without winning
an event. And he blew it all on Pro Golf.

For the third consecutive year, no playoff was needed to select
our four duffers for the Skins game. Bob Tassinari and John Coussis
led the field at six under par after the 75 minute opening round
was completed. The duo of Mark Yoshikawa and Jason Porta were
right behind at 5 under par. Could it be that Yoshi was taking
a liking to this thing called "winning"?.

Bob Tassinari (with his golfer Tim Clark) set the early pace,
with two birdies and five pars on the first seven holes. However,
he was unable to manage the sole low score on any of those holes,
so all seven Skins were carried over, meaning the first player
to successfully score a Skin would be the 2012 champion.

Jason Porta (using Stewart Cink) birdied the eighth hole,
but the last golfer, John Coussis (using Boo Weekly) also rolled
in a crucial birdie putt to halve the hole and keep the tournament
alive. The ninth through twelfth holes were uneventful, making
this the first time no Skins were earned on the initial 12 holes.
All four players then made par on the 13th hole and birdied the
14th hole.

The tension built for the 15th. Mark Yoshikawa (using Jonathan
Kaye) became relevant for the first time as he rolled in a long
birdie putt. Mark responded by jumping up and down in celebration
while hugging his caddie, Dennis Nicholson (a brutal sight at
one o'clock in the morning). However, Jason Porta also made a
long birdie putt, and the audience responded with relief that
there would not be a sweeping of both Pro Golf championships
for the year.

Just as all wondered if the round would ever end, Bob, Mark
and Jason all completed a par of the short 16th. The last player,
John Coussis, placed his iron shot on the green, then made a
long birdie putt to mercifully end the tournament and claim his
second Pro Golf title -- only 13 years after his first.

With no remaining plaques and the hour becoming late, the
remaining three players rolled off for the next three positions.
Bob Tassinari emerged on top for second place, with Mark Yoshikawa
in third and Jason Porta in fourth.

Be sure to join the fun again in 2013, and maybe even get
in a little practice in the 2013 Fourth Annual PBeM tournament
that should start sometime this spring (right before the Masters).
Also, look for the event to move next year to the Pebble Beach
course with the Skins game occurring at Augusta National.

PBeM Tournament:

A record field of 44 players contested the third annual BPA
Pro Golf PBeM tournament over the course of 95 games.
All players first competed on the Lancaster Host course. The
top two-thirds of the field survived the cut and moved on to
contest the always difficult Muirfield Village course. The top
one-third of the original field then advanced to contest the
Arrowhead Park local public course. The best cumulative score
of the three rounds won the title.

Mark Yoshikawa shocked the rest of the field when he captained
his golfer, John Daly, to a 9 under par 62 on the Lancaster Host
course. That gave him a four stroke lead over Chris Kizer, whose
golfer was Bruce Lietzke. What made Yoshikawa's round more shocking
was that the other four players who had John Daly as their golfer
averaged a score of 73.5 for the round.

John Coussis (with golfer Lee Trevino) posted a best score in
the second round of six under par on the Muirfield Village course,
which put him in a second place tie with Mark Mitchell (and Shigeki
Maruyama). However, both were six strokes behind Yoshikawa, who
posted a four under par 68 on the course.

Twenty players were left to move onto the third course, Arrowhead
Park. Jeff Mullet (with Bruce Lietzke) posted the best score
on the course at ten strokes under par, but his combined score
of eleven under par was only good enough for fifth place.

Chris Kizer also ended play at eleven under par, earning fourth
place. Mark Mitchell finished in third place at 12 under par,
and John Coussis tried to keep things interesting with a second
place finish at 13 under par.

But nothing could stop the mighty Yoshikawa. His digital dice
cooled a bit, and he only finished five under par at Arrowhead
Park, the eighth best result of the field. But his nearly insurmountable
lead coming into the round was good enough to leave him with
a five stroke cushion over the stunned field, an 18 strokes under
par effort for the tournament. It was a surprisingly easy victory
for a BPA member winning his first event after 18 years of Avaloncon/BPA
participation.

The tournament will be restarted in March 2013. Come join us
next year as we use the time of the Masters and the U.S. Open
to determine another PBeM champion of the BPA Pro Golf world.